Replication the association of 2q32.2–q32.3 and 14q32.11 with hepatocellular carcinoma

• We replicate the locus 2q32.2–q32.3 (STAT4) associated with HCC.
• The locus 14q32.11 (EFCAB11) is first reported to have association with HCC in Chinese population.
• STAT4 and EFCAB11 generate evidence for interaction in association with HCC.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor. The morbidity and mortality of HCC tend to ascend and become a serious threat to the population health. Genetic studies of HCC have identified several susceptibility loci of HCC. In this study, we aim to replicate the association of these loci in our samples from Chinese population and further investigate the genetic interaction. We selected 16 SNPs within 1p36.22, 2q32.2–q32.3, 3p21.33, 8p12, 14q32.11 and 21q21.3 and genotyped in 507 HCC patients and 3014 controls by using Sequenom MassARRAY system. Association analyses were performed by using PLINK 1.07. We observed that the STAT4 (2q32.2–q32.3) at rs7574865 (P = 1.17 × 10− 3, OR = 0.79) and EFCAB11 (14q32.11) at rs8013403 (P = 1.54 × 10− 3, OR = 0.80) were significantly associated with HCC in this study. In 3p21.33, genetic variant rs6795737 within GLB1 was also observed with suggestive evidence (P = 9.98 × 10− 3, OR = 0.84). In the interaction analysis, the pair of associated SNPs (rs7574865 within STAT4, rs8013403 within EFCAB11) generated evidence for interaction (P = 4.10 × 10− 3). In summary, our work first reported the association of 14q32.11 (EFCAB11) with HCC in Chinese Han population and revealed the genetic interaction between STAT4 (2q32.2–q32.3) and EFCAB11 (14q32.11) in HCC.